Guest Column: Growing as a Person thru Self-Discipline
Sunday’s are self-help Guest Column day where I find an article I think appropriate for this site.
Today’s article is from Barry Taylor, Growing as a Person thru Self-Discipline
In order for us to become a progressively better person, it is necessary to learn to become truly responsible for our thoughts, actions and consequences related to those activities. Being responsible goes had and hand with having self-discipline, and having self-discipline is akin to being responsible. Self-discipline to me is the ability to get yourself to take the proper action whether you feel like it or not.
Being responsible means doing the right thing all the time. That is not to say that we sometimes slip up and make mistakes, but at least we should strive to do what is right. In order to get ahead in life and achieve our goals and dreams we must have self discipline. Each and every one of us is vastly more capable than we will ever realize, and more often than not, it has a lot to do with the desire for instant gratification.
We are born into this world with a need for our instant gratification to be met or we may perish, but as we grow older, many of us never out grow this need. At some point we all have to grow up and come to the realization that life is full of disappointments and frustrations, and dealing with them and working thru them is all a part of personal growth. We are so easily seduced by immediate satisfaction. As an adult we must face reality and learn that avoiding a difficult situation today only makes matters worse. You’ve got to understand that you must exchange some pain now for much less pain (or even pleasure) later. Gaining pleasure the quickest way possible may be pleasant now but in the long run, you are in for trouble. If you put pleasure before responsibilities, then you are not demonstrating self-discipline.
There are a number of obstacles to self discipline. One of the main ones is parental spoiling. One of the worst things you can do to a child is to spoil them in a manner that they get everything they want. This is really doing the youngster a disservice. After being catered to all of their lives these kids grow up with serious issues related to self-discipline. Unless they learn to suffer the consequences of their actions, they are unlikely to ever develop responsibilities.
Procrastination can also obstruct self-discipline. It is a silent killer; it is like a disease not unlike alcoholism or drug addiction… cunning and crippling. My mother used to say “Do something if you do it wrong.” She was right. Perfectionism is a nice virtue but it, like procrastination can be crippling. The paralysis of analysis can often get in the way of progress. Action is the only thing that will move us closer to our goals.
Another really huge hindrance to self-discipline is fear. Fear plays a big role in the inner workings of procrastination and perfectionism. There are many different fears that people face. The Fear of failure, fear of criticism and fear of success are all common. Our own defense mechanisms try to protect us from failure through the use of procrastination. If we never try something, how can we fail? As mentioned earlier, people need to learn how to fail. Fear incapacitates unsuccessful people. In order to overcome fear we must produce momentum by taking bold, decisive action. Try doing something scary. Fear of failure immobilizes you and you must overcome inertia by taking action. We must all remember that failing is a prerequisite for success. It is all but impossible to succeed in anything without first falling flat on your face. It is part of the learning process. Unsuccessful people try one thing that doesn’t work and then give up. Often people give up when they are on the threshold of succeeding. You must be able to conquer yourself, and that is one of the most difficult thing that any of us will ever do.
Barry Taylor is an Executive Chef by profession, a life long student of great cooking and a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. He has also been a student of self help audio programs and books for over 15 years. He also has extensive experience in investigating different money making opportunities in search of ones that actually work. He enjoys sharing some of his thoughts on personal development and marketing ve…<Author’s contact info incomplete>